A mother who systematically stole money from her severely disabled daughter's compensation fund is now attempting to contest the girl's will to claim a £160,000 home.

Cathy Svendsen, 47, once of Heron Gate, Scunthorpe, was jailed in January 2014 along with her ex-husband for stealing half a million pounds from her daughter Samantha’s £2.6-million payout to fund a lavish "lottery-style" spending spree over a period of around eight years.

Svendsen was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, while her ex-husband Robert Hills was jailed for three years and four months after admitting wrongdoing and giving prosecution evidence against her.

She had pleaded not guilty to four theft offences but was convicted by the jury of three of them after a 14-day trial spanning four weeks at Doncaster Crown Court in October and November 2013.

Samantha died last year aged 32 and left a £160,000 bungalow to a group of six carers – but left her mother out of the will.

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A source told The Sun : "Sam went on holiday last year. She knew it would be her last and she died on the plane home.

"She left her house to the carers. Her mum then declared a vested interest. It's deplorable."

Samantha, who had cerebral palsy, had been left with debilitating lifelong complications after being starved of oxygen at birth as a result of a medical blunder. She was left wheelchair-bound, could not speak or feed herself and required round-the-clock care. She was awarded £2.6 million compensation in 1999.